Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is standing by his declaration last summer that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was a liar.
In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd to be aired in full on MSNBC Thursday evening, Cruz told Todd that “every word I said there was true and accurate.”
The interview was taped as part of a town hall meeting and the clip played Thursday on MSNBC.
In the interview, Todd asks Cruz if he “regrets” calling McConnell a liar from the Senate floor.
“You know Washington is an amazing place,” Cruz said. “When somebody stands up and lies to you and someone else points out that they lied …”
Todd interrupts him.
“He lied to you?”
“Every word I said there was true and accurate,” Cruz says. “The reaction in the Senate is, ‘How dare you say that out loud?’ They’re not upset that somebody lied to them. I mean, that’s the amazing thing.”
The audience laughs.
The interview comes just as Cruz is working on Capitol Hill to gain support from colleagues and has been struggling to find traction after alienating many of them during his time in Washington. An apology to McConnell could have gone a long way to helping Cruz mend fences, but it looks like Cruz is committed to going it alone.
Watch the full video:
